Encouraging the use of a standardized, structured approach to testing will improve the quality of the product released to the business units.

Since testware is well preserved and maintained in a central repository and is easily accessible whenever required, it is reused throughout the lifecycle. The ability to reuse testware will improve testing productivity. The value gained by using test management tools increases as the number of software builds grows. It is the iterative use of tools and test cases throughout the project lifecycle that yields the greatest cost and time benefits.

Reuse of test cases will help save in testing time, so that test coverage can increase. This directly contributes to improving the quality of the products. The early completion of testing activities also reduces the total project time.

Test management can also help facilitate in building a knowledge repository and aiding knowledge transfer. Testers new to a project can easily jump right into a project and easily begin executing test cases. The entire test approach for the project will be laid out for them in test management, making it much easier to insert new test cases and execute existing ones.

Based on test reports available, now we can make informed decisions about the quality of the application under development.

In summary, the test management system helps improve quality, reduce testing cost and time, support decision making, and build a valuable knowledge repository.

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About the author

Prasad Patwa is a Senior SQA Engineer at BMC Software, India. He is a CSTE and CSQA from QAI. He has over eight years of experience in the area of software validation and verification and test automation.